synestheticknits

sometimes i draw little things.. but i've been spending a lot of time with my old favorite, the sims 2. otherwise, just working.

hello there! so uh... 2020, huh? ugh. so i've actually been drawing again after like a really long time. except this time i'm working on getting better at using a tablet. i learned drawing and painting and whatnot on traditional media, and my brain always seemed to rebel against doin it digital. lately, finally, it's starting to click. yay! i also got myself on redbubble and put some stuff up there just for the heck of it. still feeling things out. i used to be like, yeah i should totally get into silkscreening and stuff. yeah, never happened. so i'm happy that there's this kind of stuff out there now, and that it's easier for people who don't have access to the equipment and all to jump in and get started. right now there are some simple patterns and weird little drawings. also a couple of my old doll photos. unfortunately can't locate the higher-res versions of most of them. although, i never get rid of anything so they'll probably turn up at...

transitions are hard. i'm still around, just not doing as much fun stuff (because work, school, etc). things are just moving more slowly than i'd like. sloooow. i did go and freshen things up a little bit around here, fix a few broken things, and whatnot. and i was reminded of the long-running afghan project in my last post... since then, it has been put away again and then taken back out AGAIN. sometime last summer i started working away at it while listening to podcasts (mostly unexplained and binge-catching-up on you must remember this ). i can say that all squares are now done and blocked! now the edging. this may take another ten years. sigh. so, there is still work to be done around here. in the meantime, some old favorite posts: a look through some vintage crafting magazines. early-90s vogue knitting (every hipster in my city looks straight out of 1992 lately anyway, so...?) and granny squares of the 70s ! i definitely have more of these magazines around...

hi people. it's been a while. life is weird. just here trying to fix things up since photobucket decided to suddenly kill off its image hosting. if you see anything around here that looks like it should be a photo but is instead a grey box asking you to pay $$$, that's why. i'm on it. recently i dragged out a super old and decrepit knitting project, for some reason, and have been slowly working at it. (way too many project bags just hanging out.) it's an afghan made up of intarsia panels, picturing knit-related items. knit in whatever assortment of semi-color-coordinated crappy acrylic yarn i had available at the time. which was, incidentally, 2004. because sometimes, i knit like frozen molasses. also, i remembered i kind of don't like knitting from charts. aaaand, i went back to school. so there's that. it's a little crazy. just a little, though. i hang out on twitter, even though i don't talk much. forever a lurker. say hi, though.

so it seems that my long-running (LONG-running) car issues have come to an end. what does this mean? i will no longer have to restrict my post office trips to only fridays. woo hoo! it means other things too, but, well, we'll talk about that later. some other 80s toys and stuff in the shop right now, strawberry shortcake and my little pony! more on the way. still a little hard letting go of ponies, dude... part of my collection. these ones aren't going anywhere. (: especially my fave, bowtie. one day i'll have space for a whole bookshelf of awesomeness. ( goals... )

so.. i don't really watch much tv. (no superiority here - oh, you'll see) we don't have cable, though we do have netflix and a stack of series on dvd and recommendations from friends, etc. i just really have trouble sitting down and just watching something without thinking "oh god i should be washing the dishes or finishing this or that project". but this winter, i did get into... celebrity big brother. look. if you're going to get into reality tv, there's no point unless it's trashy and over-the-top. no pretense of a higher purpose here. yes, vh1 celebreality was my shit at the time. i have been lamenting new york's absence from the airwaves for some time now. so when i found out she would be on this season... #hbic i'll refrain from discussion of the show for the disinterested (but if you want to chat...!) and i was actually glad when it was done.. damn, this thing's on every day? with after-shows? but i realized that th...

hello hello, 2016! getting into cleaning, sorting, downsizing, and decluttering mode. i have such an 80s toy horde that i don't really need to keep. there's only so much space in one house, so why not keep just the favorites? there's only so many collections one person can have, you know? i think the first real collection i started was strawberry shortcake. i always loved the book illustrations (see "the winter that would not end" here.. i need to get that one back from my mom's house!). at some point i started re-collecting the dolls of my youth. (cafe ole was always a fave...) i spent a lot of time on ebay back in the day when i had some actual disposable income, seeking out cheap incorrectly-named lots of vintage dolls. i had a thing for my little pony too, but luckily still had a lot of my originals and it also seemed easier to come across ponies in secondhand shops and such. along the way, i would come across all sorts of sesame street, ba...

some of my favorite moments of 2015, on twitter and the world in general. my favorite favorites, i guess. MusicNotes from the XPN Morning Show: Watch @jmascis & Fred Armisen cover Mazzy Starr. http://t.co/3ZfbnlOYaA pic.twitter.com/ukqUduiSIn — wxpnfm (@wxpnfm) February 5, 2015 Wife dabbles in art. pic.twitter.com/SJlhHXlrTF — Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) March 15, 2015 America, we need to have a talk about our laziness pic.twitter.com/GCpNCpT0yD — Roman Mars (@romanmars) March 31, 2015 Does anyone else think "don't be a weirdo, don't be a weirdo" over and over when entering social gatherings? Cause I don't. — Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) April 8, 2015 Definitely worth the read 👌 pic.twitter.com/mkuzKa5jFA — Calvin and Hobbes (@Calvinn_Hobbes) May 11, 2015 The Low Anthem playing me a song at their recording studio inside the stunning Columbus Theatre in Providence pic.twitter.com/i2FpdXKtRG — kr...

another summer gone, for real. it was a pretty good one. as usual, we got to see tons of good live music. getting to newport for the folk festival without car trouble was a bonus. (l to r: the low anthem at one providence, james taylor at the newport folk festival, string builder at burnside park, deerhoof at foo fest) this has definitely been a year of changes and transitions. to finally have a name for something that's been wrong for years and years.. is pretty damn good, to say the least. also, we had four weddings this year among our family and friends, three in september alone.. including ours! credit for framed song lyric idea to leethal ! it all went by pretty quickly.. i did some crafty-type wedding stuff, but not as much as i would have liked (but there's never too much stuff to make, right?). here's to more good changes ahead, okay? for one thing, this blog layout is sorely in need of an overhaul. thanks for dealing with the current weir...

a belated (partial) week 2 of leethal's photo-a-day project. #oval #floor #stack #throwback

recently my dad came across one of my grandmother's old crochet magazines and gave it to me. vintage knit/crochet magazines are always a favorite (70s ones especially!), so here - woman's day granny squares: the photo essay. already drawn in by the 70s color schemes. straight-up afghan as clothing. i don't know. there is something appealing about this one though, in a hippie-ish sort of way i guess. nice folk album cover art styling. i always love the strange kid photos.. think about the fact that this was the best shot of the session. this kid's face says it all. i do rather like this wall hanging. except, you know, as a blanket.. gravity-defying. i have no idea what's happening here. more photos on my tumblr , if you're up for it.

and we're back. i haven't been feeling much in the way of creativity this winter. likely because these past few months can be summed up pretty well by this image: (though actually the place in japan where this photo was taken is pretty interesting .) anyway, i'm doing lee meredith 's photo-a-day thing for april on instagram. i figured one photo per day would be simple enough, but i've lately i'm out of the house for about 12 hours on work days, so.. not so much. oy. but i will plug along. (: week one: day 1: #sky day 2: #face day 3: #twist day 5: #sweet some have been challenging (in a good way!).. who would have thought i would have trouble finding something for "clash"? in the past i think i would have just stopped doing it altogether if i missed one day (because if it's not going to be just right, why keep going?), but i seem to have gotten past that a bit. i'll try and catch up a bit, but here at least we ...

since i'm in vintage mode lately, i put together a monochromatic 90s treasury on etsy. i forgot these were fun, dude. maybe next something spring-y? it would be nice to see some color around here, but it seems like it'll never stop snowing...

so i realized i have never photographed one of my favorite FOs, my neon lace socks . these started out a thrifted white merino and cashmere sweater. i unraveled the body, and was left with the sleeves. i'd heard of using sweater sleeves as sock blanks before, so i figured i'd give that a try. it turned out pretty awesome, i think. i used some of my hoard of easter egg dyes to make a super neon rainbow. one sleeve turned out to be enough for both socks. the dye didn't penetrate the knit fabric fully, which actually gave the yarn a cool sort of mottled look. so, something to be aware of if that's not what you're going for. i knit the socks pretty much directly from the sleeve, without winding it into a ball first.. seemed unnecessary. okay, fine, i guess i could have, but who needs an extra step between them and knitting? i did discover that the yarn is a bit delicate for socks. like a lot of store-bought sweaters, this one was made from multip...

round here it has been all snow, all the time. currently seeking location for hibernation. please stand by.

some of my favorites of this past year. wtf, 2014? Trigger warnings are triggering for me. — Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) January 31, 2014 Actually I'm glad I'm not watching the #oscars , because Ellen's bound to bring out Sophia Grace and Rosie in a minute — Helen Zaltzman (@helenzaltzman) March 3, 2014 Possess a excellent day time, says a wonderful spammer. Thank you, I shall try to. — Havi Brooks (@havi) March 10, 2014 CNN is continuing their arduous 3 week search for news. Pray for them. — josh groban (@joshgroban) March 30, 2014 I'm secretly jealous of people who have their shit together. Must be relaxing. — marc maron (@marcmaron) April 11, 2014 New Law Requires Welfare Recipients To Submit Sweat To Prove How Hard They’re Looking For Job http://t.co/K6yKkOkhmv pic.twitter.com/c2AZgKt3Aj — The Onion (@TheOnion) August 6, 2014 "Don't go anywhere" and "Maroon 5 is up next" in the same sent...

so this past year i met my friend's new baby, got engaged, worked with some awesome people, met my sister's new baby, spent time with some cats, saw some friends get married, ate some good food, saw some great concerts. etc. there has been altogether not enough knitting, amongst other things. have been slowly adding some of this year's photos to my flickr stream. working on some changes in 2015. (:

so i succeeded in spinning only 725.25 yards of yarn for spinzilla week. but, that is still more yarn than i have spun in months and certainly more than i've ever done in one week. so i think i can still declare spinzilla 2014 somewhat of a success. first off was spunky eclectic 's panda top in road trip . was lovely to spin, and her colorways are always tasty. (it looks a bit warmer in the photo here than in real life.) i got this braid at the massachusetts sheep & woolcraft festival in 2010, and it had been sadly languishing until now. soon to be socks! second was another random yarn generator thing , which i always have fun with. i was not too excited about the colors it came up with (black, white, and purple), but when it was done it reminded me of a dress that's been on my modcloth wishlist... lastly (and unfinished-ly), is some traveling rhinos merino top . so soft and squishy. only got about 177 yards of it in before the time ran out. it...

so, i did it.. i signed up for spinzilla this year. i've been away from the wheel for far too long, and this is a pretty good impetus. i figure i should have some spin goals to aim for. * definitely planning on another random yarn generator -type project. as for possible project goals... * 11oz bulky for the body of cathode * 7oz dk/sport weight for tappan zee * 3.5oz sport weight for arlen i think this, however, may be destined to be yet another pair of socks. why do i get keep getting sucked in to handspun sock yarn? pre- and post-drafting, and a single on the bobbin go team happy fuzzy yarn!

so it looks like i need to admit that it's going to be fall pretty damn soon. (i don't have to like it..) i am need of a cozy sweater. not a pullover, but something with buttons. maybe i can start doing that knitting thing again, remember that? i do have a ravelry queue a mile and a half long, after all... i do like the levenwick (and have been wanting to make something with shelter for ages!), but it's not quite the warm & cozy thing i'm looking for.. especially with the three-quarter sleeves. a funky grandpa cardigan is definitely something i need in my life. not so sure about the big open v-neck at this point though. a coordinating scarf would be in order... but a simultane ! would have to lengthen the sleeves, probably the body too, for my purposes. getting warmer though (har). i think the one i have finally decided on is sesame , which has been in my queue since it was published in magknits in 2005. yay for stripes! now the real ...